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The 35/35 List

Today I’m 35 weeks pregnant and have 35 days to go. Or maybe 25 or 33 or 49 (ohpleasegod don’t let it be 49). But “35/35” has a much nicer ring to it than “35/35 +/- 14.”

Like many women at this stage of pregnancy, I am nesting like a crazy mother. I just want to fold and refold all the teeny tiny baby clothes and decorate a nursery and spend Will’s entire paycheck on Etsy buying cute, but entirely useless things for the baby.

Reading a home decor book around the bump.

Well, all of the newborn and 0-3 month size clothes fit in a single drawer of my dresser, and that’s where they’ll stay for now. We don’t have a nursery to decorate, because a) we’re not living in our own house and b) the baby will be in our room for the first several months of her life. And as far as the Etsy stuff, well, this ain’t my first rodeo and as such I’m keeping a really tight rein on what we’re buying. Simplify, right?

But that doesn’t mean I have nothing to do. I have plenty of things that I need to do and a lot of things that I want to do, and not much time to do it all (see: 35 +/- 14).

So here’s my list, in no particular order.

1) Buy a house!

Our home inspection was today and although we’re still waiting on the report, everything went quite well. No unexpected dealbreakers.

Side note: unlike the first house we nearly bought, which turned out to not be connected to the city sewer system and had a CESSPOOL. RUN AWAY RUN AWAY RUN AWAY. Home inspections are so fun.

We’re currently planning to close on July 2, although I think we’re going to try to move that up a few days depending on how quickly our lender can finalize our mortgage. Even a few days would help, so we’re crossing our fingers on that one.

2) Get caught up on our 2015 Project Life album.

I think this one is totally achievable. I only have a few pictures for May that need to be printed, and a handful of pages for May and the rest of the year that only need some journaling. So it’s just finishing up those pages and staying current with June.

3) Finish the cross stitch alphabet sampler I started two years ago.

Yep, started this one when I was pregnant with Natalie with the intention of having it all done and ready to hang in her room. Nope. Not even close. I think I had finished maybe 5 letters? This project definitely isn’t tops on the priority list, but I know I won’t be working on it for a while after the baby is born. Right now its a very relaxing project to work on after Natalie goes to bed. It becomes far less relaxing when you’re so bleary-eyed from lack of sleep that you can’t even see where you’re supposed to put the needle through the fabric and you just keep stabbing yourself in the finger.

4) Become an official Tennessee resident.

Our cars still have MA plates and we haven’t gotten our new licenses yet. Will is hopefully going to get the cars registered next week, but I think we’ll have to wait til after we close on the house for me to get my license. Since I’m unemployed and we’re living in my grandparents’ house (no rental contract, our names aren’t on any utilities), I basically have no proof that I actually live in this state. It’ll be easier to prove that once we have our mortgage documents. But we might already have a baby by then, and the only thing I can think of that’s more fun than standing in line at the DMV is standing in line at the DMV with a 2-week old. So, let’s have Will register the cars and put a big fat asterisk next to the goal of me getting my license and just play it by ear.

5) Get everything ready for baby.

This one isn’t particularly hard. Her clothes are already put away; we just need to grab a few more things out of the storage unit, wash the newborn cloth diapers, and move the baby’s changing table from Natalie’s room into our room (Natalie gets changed on her bureau; the changing table is currently being used as a bookcase).

6) Find a pediatrician.

We’ve gotten some good recommendations from Angie’s List and the Birth Center, so I think we know what office we’ll be using. I just need to call and make sure they’re accepting new patients, and set up Natalie’s 2-year visit.

7) Get my hair cut.

I think it took me about six months to get a haircut after Natalie was born. I haven’t been to a salon since January, so, yeah…it’s time.

8) Get a new phone.

My contract is up next week and at that point I can get a new iPhone for a discount. I’m currently using the 4s and it’s been a tough little phone, but it’s definitely starting to show it’s age. The home button doesn’t work half the time, so I just keep pressing it until Guided Access starts, and then accidentally lock myself into one of Natalie’s drawing apps. I don’t know which phone I’ll be getting since Verizon refuses to show me the discounted price until the day my contract is up. Hoping for an iPhone 6 but we’ll have to wait and see how much they want for it.

9) Cool it with the nesting and spend lots of time with Natalie.

We spend loads of time together but a lot of it isn’t the most quality time, I admit. I find myself running around and scrubbing countertops and folding laundry and asking Natalie to do a lot of independent play beside me while I do housework. Let me be clear: I’m a huge fan of independent play, I think it’s an enormously important skill for all kids to have, and I don’t believe it’s my responsibility to be Natalie’s entertainment 100% of the time.

That being said…she’s my first baby and her world is about to be turned completely upside-down. And so is mine, and Will’s. Even when I get frustrated at some of her behaviors, I’m trying really hard to keep in mind that this is the last month ever in her whole life when it’ll be just the three of us.

So you know what? It’s ok if I leave the dirty dishes in the sink and take her outside to play with her water table. It’s ok to fold laundry after she goes to bed, and spend her awake time reading books together. It’s ok if breakfast takes over an hour, because truthfully, there’s nowhere we need to rush off to.

Even if nothing else on this list gets accomplished (except for #1 because HI YES BUYING A HOUSE IS KIND OF IMPORTANT), this is my focus for the next 35 days. This goofball, this cuddlebug, this piece of my heart that walks and talks and requests ham for breakfast and only refers to her sister as “Baby Elmo.”